Dover, UK: French temperature-controlled giant Stef is to acquire Langdons from the Nagel Group.
The Langdon group operates in the UK temperature-controlled transport market and also handles imports and exports of chilled and frozen food between the UK and continental Europe. Its 1,400 employees and its eight sites enable it to deliver to 20,000 locations throughout the UK. The company handles close to 2.7m pallets a year on behalf of its 2,000 customers and recorded a £147m turnover in 2020.
The transaction marks a milestone for Stef building its European network created over 30 years ago, the company says.
Stanislas Lemor, chief executive, Stef, says: “We are delighted with this deal, which represents a unique opportunity to expand our geographic coverage to an eighth country, the UK. The acquisition is a perfect fit for our strategy as a European pure player in the food supply chain. It will allow us to offer our customers – producers and distributors – a unique range of transport and logistics services throughout Western Europe while helping them grow their business outside the EU. We are keen to explore any synergy we can create together and look forward to welcoming these new employees to the Stef Group.”
Carsten Taucke, chief executive, Nagel Group: “Nagel Langdons team has done a great development and delivered high quality services since Nagel-Group has acquired the company in 2004. We are happy and proud that Nagel customers will have consistently excellent access to this distribution network in the future via the Nagel-Group network and a strong collaboration with Stef Group, which already supports transport flows between some Western and Southern European countries.”
Stef Group and Nagel-Group will enter into distribution agreements to enable Nagel-Group to make use of the Langdon Group’s distribution network for its operations in the UK. The move also enable Langdon Group to offer its customers its usual distribution services to Germany and Central/Northern Europe, in addition to a new excellent coverage of Southern Europe via Stef’s network.
The transaction is due to be completed by the end of the year, subject to approval from regulatory authorities.
Stef turnover up 10% in third quarter
Stef reported turnover up 10% to €920.1m in the third quarter of 2021, a 9% like-for-like increase.
Stanislas Lemor, chairman, said: “While we still need to remain vigilant, our encouraging performance this quarter reflects the economic recovery now underway in Europe.
“This upward trend and the Group’s healthy fundamentals put us in a position to accelerate our European rollout. Hence the agreement announced on 19 October to acquire Langdon Group, which will give us a strong foothold in the UK as of 2022.”
Stef France’s business in chilled products gained from the resumption of outdoor events in the summer: turnover was up 5.8% to €534.4m.
